CRAWFORD COUNTY

Arion

ARION	Pop. 300 Alt. 1,149	Control, Post Office
Carroll 33.7	Omaha 65.0	Hotel, 1 garage. Local speed limit 10 miles per hour. One bank, 3 railroads, 8 general business places, express company, telephone company.
Graded Dirt

- A Complete Official Road Guide of The LINCOLN HIGHWAY Fifth Edition (1924)

Arion.
At the corner of State and Second, one of the few remaining Lincoln Highway-era structures exhibits its unique style. There are architectural treasures across Iowa, regardless of the size of community. Without some accountability, of course, treasures will disappear, and rumor has it this one is threatened.

Southwest of Arion.
Driving from tiny Arion toward Council Bluffs, Arion Avenue takes today's travelers west to county road M14, which links up with U.S. Highway 30. But the 1913 Lincoln Highway was diagonal. That road is now an abandoned grade next to a fence row separating fallow land from a farm field. There are two mostly intact culverts along the route, including this one. Get there in the spring, before they are both overgrown.

Southwest of Arion.
The fence row beyond the culvert is planted on a noticeable grade, especially before the summer foliage overtakes it. This was the Lincoln Highway between Arion and Dow City.

"The Lincoln Highway took six turns in this little town of 300. It is down to 200 today. The abandoned right-of-way of the Milwaukee Road (now a farm field) is immediately to the left as the highway proceeds to the southwest."

- Gregory Franzwa, The Lincoln Highway: Iowa, The Patrice Press, 1995